For the first time, New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath is speaking publicly about the end of her 25-year common-law union.

Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath with her son Julian, 18, and dog Waffles.

By:Queen’s Park Bureau Published on Fri Mar 11 2011

When you are the leader of a political party your private life is public.

That means something as personal as a marital break-up becomes everybody’s business.

For the first time, New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath is speaking publicly about the end of her 25-year common-law union.

Suddenly, Horwath, who has an 18-year-old son, has become the working single mom she so vigorously defends day in and day out in the Legislature.

In a candid interview with the Star, Horwath talked of moving households and juggling the everyday responsibilities of being a mom while running a political party at the start of an election race.

“When a relationship ends, it isn’t like a light switching off and on. It is a process that takes time and it is very painful,” she says. “It creates a lot of anxiety, destruction and difficulty for all the parties involved — children, both the partners.”

Horwath, 48, lives in a townhouse in Hamilton with son Julian and their dog Waffles, a wheaten terrier. Her ex-partner is a former businessman in Hamilton. He could not be contacted for this story.

“When I get up in the Legislature and I talk about the single mom or a woman struggling at two or three jobs or family responsibilities it is something that hits close to home,” she says.

For a public figure, Horwath is intensely private.

Her split happened a year ago last Christmas and she is only now comfortable about disclosing the pain of separation — an all too-often lengthy process with no side coming out a winner.

“The stress is there, it is there from the minute you wake up until the minute you go to bed,” she says. “The best way to deal with it is to acknowledge it, realize it’s normal and that other folks are having similar stresses.”

Julian, a Grade 12 student, is her touchstone. “I deal with stress by staying in touch with my son, staying close to him,” she says. “Sometimes it is by text or by phone.”

While political life is difficult for any elected official, it is even more challenging for women. At Queen’s Park, only 26 per cent of MPPs are women and all parties find it tough to attract female candidates.

The lobby group Equal Voice is pushing to have 33 per cent of the seats in the Legislature occupied by women after the Oct. 6 election.

Horwath, a politician since 1997, has been through seven campaigns — one federal, three municipal, a by-election, a re-election and a leadership race. She and Liberal Lyn McLeod are the only female major-party political leaders Ontario has had. She served from 1992 to 1996.

Last month, another single mom, Christy Clark, became the premier-designate of British Columbia.

“In politics, as in a lot of other places, women often have to work twice as hard to get half of the recognition,” the NDP leader says. “That is absolutely true in politics.”

And as leader of the third party — one with only 10 seats in the 107-member Legislature — Horwath is already an underdog.

“I sometimes think as a New Democrat it adds a bit of an extra challenge, if you will, to try and make my way into the scene in a way that is as credible and as forceful as the other,” she says.

Both Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak are married with children.

McGuinty’s wife, Terri, teaches kindergarten at a Toronto Catholic school. They have four grown children.

Hudak’s wife is Deb Hutton, a businesswoman and a key player in former premier Mike Harris’ government. They have a 3-year-old daughter.

When Horwath tackles the premier during question period about the difficulty of making ends meet due to the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax or higher home heating and utility costs, it’s personal.

“I pay all the bills myself,” she says. “I try to get back and forth to Hamilton. My son is 18, he is fairly independent but I am still his mother. We still have a home together, the two of us. I still have to watch to make sure he is doing the laundry on Saturdays and not during the week to keep those hydro bills down.”

Horwath credits her son for getting her through the low times and keeping her focused during days that can see her wake up in Hamilton and criss-cross the province before bedtime.

“He’s been a rock for me, as a mom. The support system that I have is him,” she says. “I was worried about that, at one point. But I am always touching base with him. He always tells me he is proud of me.”

Julian was her biggest supporter when she decided to run for the NDP leadership two years ago and he assures his mom he is up for the fall election race.

“He knows what the animal of a campaign looks like,” she says. “Certainly this campaign will be different for us. I’ll be away from the house for pretty much a month straight.”

Horwath fondly recalls Julian, pondering her absence from Hamilton Centre, asking, “Mom, what does that mean for our riding?”

She laughs. “For the first time ever he called it our riding,” she says with pride. “He added, ‘Don’t worry mom, I’ll be there for you. My girlfriend and I will put up signs, knock on doors, hand out leaflets. You really don’t have to worry, we’ve got it covered.’”

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